Jon Jones tells Dan Henderson to “shut up and be grateful”

In what seems to be his ongoing quest to turn much of the MMA world against him, UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones is once again speaking openly about matters related to the cancellation of UFC 151 with a specific focus on the behavior of Dan Henderson. The two talented 205ers were scheduled to face each other at the event before Henderson suffered a knee injury and withdrew. While the situation in general didn’t bother Jones, the 25-year old “Bones” hasn’t appreciated some of Henderson’s comments in the wake of the event falling apart.

“I don’t think Henderson handled the situation wisely, by making fun of me for not taking the fight (against Chael Sonnen),” said Jones in an interview with the Toronto Sun. “Dude, you just dodged a bullet and you’re talking trash to me? You got injured and you’re going to talk trash that I didn’t fight Chael?”

As has been well-documented, Jones was offered Sonnen as a late replacement and turned the fight down to the chagrin of his employers, peers, and countless fans across the word.

“He came out with this ad that said, ‘Buy a ‘Hendo’ shirt and get a free Jon Jones shirt to dry your car off with.’ You’re making fun of me, yet you got hurt and dodged a bullet? You’re sitting at home with ice on your knee and I’m here doing pushups again because I thought my camp should have been over. I have stuff to do and you’re sitting around your home playing video games, or whatever you do during the day,” Jones continued, the anger clearly evident in his tone. “Training camps suck. The fight is the fun part. So I’ve got to suffer all over again, do a training camp all over again, and you’re at home, laying down, having somebody feed you soup and you’re going to make fun of me because you got hurt?”

“You should shut up and be grateful you dodged a bullet,” concluded Jones frankly, adding he didn’t care if his opinion bothered people. “There are a lot of people who still love and respect me, but right now it’s kind of cool to hate me.”

Jones will look to do his talking with his fists in a few weeks when he faces Vitor Belfort at UFC 152. If he wins he is expected to face Henderson in his follow-up defense.

“You’re sitting at home with ice on your knee and I’m here doing pushups again because I thought my camp should have been over.”…..” “Training camps suck. The fight is the fun part. So I’ve got to suffer all over again, do a training camp all over again…”

Your choice Jon boy. Coulda fought Sonnen. You made your choice and you should now live by the so-called best move for your career.

Im thinking jones is off his game and bothered by this and its gonna show in his fight.the image of being a humble mature champ is gone so hes gonna try the bad guy role now. I think hes gonna lose to vitor and its gonna be great.

Let’s say Jones had been the one to pull out with injured knee rather than Hendo, with Jones waiting till the week before the fight to inform the UFC.

What would the UFC have done? I’d imagine it would have been a similar fire drill, with the UFC scrambling to find a replacement opponent for Hendo. (Note: apparently the injury isn’t too severe, so creating an interim belt wouldn’t be a feasible option)

Would any of the other top contenders have been less reluctant about facing Hendo? Seems highly unlikely that they’d risk their place in line to fight Hendo on such short notice (with no belt on the line), especially when we know they turned down the chance to jump straight to the head of the line and fight for Jones’ belt.

So then who else is there? Since training buddy Chael wouldn’t have been an option, let’s say the UFC had instead tapped the man Chael is scheduled to fight next–Forrest Griffin–as the last minute hero to jump in and save the card. In other words, just swap Chael & Forrest, which seems like a reasonable idea since these two are slated to face each other next.

So now Dana is on the phone with Hendo… “Hey Dan. So listen, Jones hurt his knee and can’t fight. We talked to the other top guys about stepping in and they can’t do it. So we need you to fight Forrest next week. Thanks buddy. Just take that fight, beat Forrest, and then we’ll figure out when you can fight Jones for the title.”

That would have been a fun conversation to listen in on.

Earlier this year Hendo refused a fight, instead opting to wait it out till he could fight Jones. So now under these circumstances, with a last minute change up, does anyone think Hendo would have had a change of heart and been willing to play along, not only fighting again before his title shot but doing so against a different opponent a week before the event, jeopardizing his title shot in the process? It wouldn’t have happened.

But even if it had played out like that, I think the rhetoric would have sounded something like this…

1) Hendo gets the benefit of the doubt. He’s worked hard for his title shot and shouldn’t be forced to take another fight before Jones.

2) WTF is with Jones & his weirdo coach refusing to let the UFC know he was injured until it was too late to save the card?

3) Dana & the UFC avoid heat for having to cancel the event. After all, Jones is the guy that got hurt and caused all this stuff to happen… Dana & Co. are just victims of bad luck.

Jon is just showing the world how easily his butt gets hurt lol. He should be careful who he pisses off, the last man to piss off Hendo ended up staring up at some lights trying to remember his own name.

Dana White gave an interview within the last week or so to one of the MMA tv shows and spoke extensively about UFC 151 and Jon Jones. He’s calmed down quite a bit and didn’t say anything negative about Jones. He also agreed that Hendo bore a lot of responsibility for the cancellation because he’d known for two weeks about his injury before informing UFC. White suggested that if UFC had been informed earlier, they had a much better chance of saving the event. Bottom line: Jones doesn’t help himself by talking so much, but he shouldn’t take the blame. And since Hendo is a big reason 151 was cancelled, maybe he should shut up, too.